Keeping You in My Thoughts
by Masher L
Summary: A mission to find a lost friend turns into a quest that could determine the fate of the world.
1. Quincy and the Jewlery Seller - part 1

Annie's POV

It didn't take me long to realize that staying wasn't safe. Not for me, not for Leo, not for Quincy or June, not for anyone. As much as it killed me inside, leaving was the right thing to do.

That's what I thought for a little bit, anyway.

xxx

Quincy's POV

It had been almost three months since Annie suddenly disappeared. A long time, right?

Well, not for me, really. Because I kept seeing her in my dreams. The long, blond hair; the big blue eyes…

Anyway, the day that Annie went missing was the day that Rocket oh so conveniently malfunctioned. Well, not entirely. Just the Look-and-Listen scope. But to repair it would cost thousands of dollars.

Which is how we ended up in Reiner, working for terrorists.

Yes, you heard me right: _terrorists_. Well, I guess the correct term would have to be "rebels" or "_eco-_terrorists" or whatever. They were paying us anyway.

After the first rebel mission—blowing up a mostly unoccupied government building—I saw the jewelry seller at the side of the road.

Although I was fleeing from policemen that may or may not have been coming my way, I stopped and talked to the jewelry seller.

xxx

Leslie's POV

_No luck,_ I thought to myself. _No one's buying. Why the heck am I even trying?_

"H-Hi…" someone said.

I looked up. "Oh," I said, "Hi."

The boy had dark skin, brown eyes, and curly black hair that fell perfectly against his face.

"Um," he said, "I'd like to look at, um, one of your necklaces, please," he said.

_Alright, I got a customer._ "Okay. Is it for anyone in particular?"

"Well," his cheeks flushed, "There's this girl—"

"Say no more," I said, "I know what you need."

I looked in a box I had on the table. The necklace with a red diamond on it begged to be sold. I pulled it out.

"This one," I said, "This one is perfect. She's gonna love it."

"But I didn't even tell you what she's like," he said, confused. "How could you—"

"It's a jeweler thing." I shrugged, "This necklace costs around three-hundred dollars."

"What?" the boy said, "I don't have that much money!"

I looked around, then leaned closer to him. "Don't tell anyone, but…" I held out the necklace to him. "I'm just going to let you have it."

"You're kidding," he said.

"I'm not," I said, then I whispered, "Just don't tell my manager, okay? He will freak."

"You have my word," he smiled.

Just before he walked away, I asked, "What's your name?"

"Quincy," he said, "I have to go. Thank you for—"

"Don't mention it," I said as he walked away.


	2. Quincy and the Jewlery Seller - part 2

Leo's POV

When Quincy finally showed up at the hideout, we all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where on earth were you?" I asked.

"Oh, um," Quincy just shrugged. "I just, uh, had to take care of something…"

"Yeah," said John, the terrorist leader. "'Take care of something.' Yeah, okay. I still don't trust you, 'Little Einsteins'."

"Hey," June said, "We're just here for the money! Speaking of, you don't happen to have it, do you?"

John groaned. "You know, life was much easier for me when I _didn't _have to pay people to do stuff."

"Well then," I said, "_Maybe you shouldn't be a terrorist_,"

"YOU SHUT UP—"

"Guys!" someone yelled. A tan-skinned girl with brown hair and green eyes came onto the scene. She was familiar. "Let's _not_ tear each other to pieces, okay? I've had enough fighting for one day."

I knew who it was. "M-Maria?"

Maria Telesco, an old friend of ours and Quincy's ex-girlfriend. It didn't end badly from what I heard; it was an age difference of three years.

"Hi, Leo," she said.

I turned around, waiting for Quincy to say something. He just stared blankly.

"Quincy?" Maria said, "Oh, my goodness, look at you! Puberty finally hit you, huh?"

"Shut up," he said, cheeks flushing. "You're twenty-one now,"

"Yep," she said, "And from what I remember, you must have turned eighteen a few months ago."

"Yeah," Quincy scratched the back of his head.

_Could this be more awkward? _I wondered.

"Oh," Quincy said, "I'm finally taller than you."

_Yep. It can._

"Well," Maria said, "You guys get comfortable. The bombing should be reported on TV any time now,"

We sat on the couches for what felt like forever before Maria turned the TV on.

"Breaking news! A small government building has been bombed. We are still trying to track the culprits…"

June yawned and rested her head on my shoulder.

"Even though you've been dating for a million centuries," Quincy said, shaking his head, "This will never stop being weird to me."

xxx

Quincy's POV

That night Annie wasn't in my dreams. Instead it was the jewelry girl. At first she was just standing there, staring at me. Her short brown hair did this glistening thing, and a slight glare shone onto her glasses.

"So we meet again," she said.

Then I woke up.

"Rise and shine!" John yelled, "Today we're breaching the building on the Southern Section! Get up, lazy butts!"

I rubbed my eyes and stood up.

"Hey," Maria said, grabbing my shoulder. "I'm joining you on today's mission."

"Oh," I said, "Okay."

We got on the train and went toward the Southern Section.

xxx

Leslie's POV

"We can't just leave him!" someone yelled outside.

"We'll find him, June, don't worry. It'll be okay. Come on, we got to get out of here!"

_What's all that yelling about?_ I wondered. _Did something happen to—?_

A loud crash answered my question.

"What on earth…"

I saw Quincy, lying on the ground. He wasn't bleeding or anything, but after a fall like that…

I tried to wake him. "Hey!" I shouted. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

xxx

Quincy's POV

"_The rain falls to the ground… so much harder when you're not around…"_

_Hey,_ I thought to myself. _That's the song I taught her. _

Annie played every note on the grand piano to perfection.

"'_Cos my love for you is so strong… but is yours really true?"_

The sound of a voice popped into my head. "Wake up!" it shouted. "Wake up!"

I opened my eyes and found myself staring at a giant hole in a roof. While I was under the roof. And it was about to rain. Oh, boy! (That was sarcasm, by the way.)

"Are you okay?" the girl asked.

"You're that… that girl from earlier…" I said.

"Leslie," she said. "Call me Leslie."

"Oh, God, how did I get here?" I tried sitting up.

"You fell… and… kind of broke my roof. Don't worry, it's just one room. I can always sleep on the couch."

"Leslie, huh?" I looked at her, then repeated the name in my head. I know it wasn't my place to judge, but the name didn't seem fitting.

"Yeah," she looked up. "We should get you on the couch. I'll make sure your injuries aren't too bad."

She helped me to the couch in her tiny living room. "Does it hurt anywhere?"

"Yeah…" I said, "My back kind of…"

"Scale of one to ten?" Leslie asked. _Is this girl a doctor or something?_

"About a three," I said.

"Come on. Be logical," she said, "A fall like that wouldn't make it a three."

"I'm serious!" I said, "Just a three."

Leslie was quiet for a minute. "You must be pretty strong, then. A fall like that would break every bone in an average person's body."

"Yeah," I said, "You might be right."

"Anyway," Leslie said, "How did you even end up, you know, falling into my house?"

"It's a long story," I said.

"Ah,"

Leslie sat down on a reclining chair. "You gonna be okay? I mean, it's almost night. You don't have anywhere you need to be, do you?"

"No," I said, "I got time."

Leslie smiled. "Well, okay. Are you hungry?"

"Little bit," I admitted.

"Okay," Leslie got up. "I'm gonna make some Macaroni & Cheese. Just rest until it's ready."

"Okay," I said.

xxx

June's POV

"I'm telling you!" I said at the hideout. "We need to go back for Quincy!"

"I told you, in the morning!" John said, "We have bigger situations going on!"

"What? How is anything bigger than this?"

"June," Leo said, "I agree that we need to find Quincy as soon as we possibly can. But it's too dangerous to go back right now. We have to wait."

This frustrated me, but in the end I had to agree. It wasn't safe to go back now—that would be suicide.

Leo hugged me. "It'll be okay. I promise."


	3. Quincy and the Jewlery Seller - part 3

Leslie's POV

Quincy woke up in the middle of the night, panting.

"Hey," I said, "Hey, it's okay, it was just a dream."

Quincy sighed.

"What was that dream about?" I asked.

"You know when you just… have a weird dream about falling?" Quincy said.

"Yeah," I said, "I hate those."

"What time is it?"

I looked at my watch. "It's, um, four am. You need to get some more sleep, Quincy."

"Okay," he said, already nodding off.

xxx

Quincy's POV

Around eight in the morning, I woke up. In Reiner, the sun doesn't usually come up until 9 or 10. I know, it's weird. Anyway, Leslie was asleep on the reclining chair, her glasses uneven.

"Hey," I said.

Leslie woke up. "Hey,"

"I didn't know it was okay to sleep in glasses."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah," she took off her glasses. "I just like to keep them on in case something happens. Right now, you're just a blob. I literally can't see anything." She put her glasses back on.

_Why does she look so familiar?_ I wondered.

"My friend Leo is the same with his glasses. He takes them off, he can't see a darn thing."

"Oh," she said, "Glad I'm not the only one."

"Do you live alone?" I asked.

"As of now, yes. I bought this house a few months ago and this other guy lived here, too. Funny story, really," Leslie stood up. "He also came crashing in."

"Wait a minute," I sat up. "Wait a minute! You're not telling me this whole happened not once, but _twice_?! That's just…" I shook my head.

"Yeah," Leslie chuckled while pulling out the cereal from a cabinet. "I don't know about you, but I honestly think it's the greatest coincidence of the 21st century."

"Yeah," I said, "Well, I kind of have to go."

"Oh," Leslie said, "Yeah, I guess you're right." She peered at the window and gasped. "Just… not yet…"

"What? What's going on?" I asked.

"The guys outside. They're some government agency—I don't know what they're called—but I'm kind of…"

I looked at her. "Are you a criminal or something?" I asked.

"No," Leslie said, "I didn't do anything, it's just that those guys are after me for whatever reason."

I cracked my knuckles. "Maybe I could give these fellas a piece of my mind."

"No!" Leslie said, "That's the stupidest idea that I've heard in my entire life!"

"Leslie," I said, "If these guys are after you for no known reason, that's not an arrest; that's kidnapping!"

"_They don't know I live here,_" she said quietly.

"They—? Oh," I looked around.

Once Leslie had poured the cereal, she gave it to me and said, "Sorry, that's all I had. I usually don't have guests."

"Oh, no, it's…" I looked at her. "It's fine, thank you."

"You're welcome," she said. Leslie sat next to me on the couch, glancing over at the window.

She stood up and sighed. "They're gone. You said you had somewhere you needed to be, correct?"

"Well, yeah," I said, "The Northeast Section."

"You know how to get there from here?" Leslie asked.

I raised a finger, then sighed. "No."

"Looks like I'm taking you there," Leslie said, "I'm gonna go get my sweater."

"Wait, what about—?"

"If those guys show up, I have you," Leslie said as she put on the navy blue sweater over her knee-length dress.

"Oh…" I said, "Okay…"

xxx

June's POV

We were getting ready to go back to the Southern Section to find Quincy when the door opened.

"He's back!" Maria said.

"Wait," I said, "What?"

"…and he has someone with him…"

The girl Quincy walked in with looked disturbingly familiar. She had a brown, pixie haircut with a knee-length dress and rectangular glasses.

"Who's this?" I asked.

"I'm Leslie," the girl said.

"Leslie," I repeated. _The voice is really familiar, too, _I thought.

"Look at that!" John threw a bag of cash at Leo and it hit him in the stomach. "You have enough money to _fix your Rocket and leave!_"

"We got some information on our way over here," Leslie interrupted.

"It doesn't matter," I said, "We need to find—"

"THE GOVERNMENT KNOWS YOUR HIDEOUT IS HERE AND THEY'RE GOING TO BOMB THE ENTIRE PART OF THIS CITY!" Leslie yelled.

John dropped his beer. "WHAT? How do you know this?!"

"On our way over here, we eavesdropped on some officials," Leslie said.

"They've apparently known we've been here for a while, but they just haven't found the right time to strike. _Tonight. _They're going to do it _tonight_."

I looked at Leo. "What are we going to do?"

"Sorry, guys," Quincy said, "But I think Annie's gonna have to wait."

**A/N: DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN! The next chapter's gonna have a plot twist so get ready! ... Even though I know of only one person who reads this. :P BAI!**


	4. Quincy and the Jewlery Seller - part 4

Annie's POV

I need to get out of here.

xxx

Leslie's POV

"Leo!" John said, "You and Leslie try to go deactivate the bomb! Hurry!"

xxx

Annie's POV

Not yet.

xxx

Leslie's POV

I follow Leo to where the government set up the bomb, which is in a ditch in the center of the Section.

"I got this," I said, kneeling down by the bomb.

"You ever deactivated a bomb before?" Leo asked.

"Well… yeah." I said. "Except last time I was working with the government, not against."

"Coincidence?"

"I think not!"

Leo chuckled. "You sure you got everything under control?"

"Yeah. Go make sure the evacuation's going smoothly." I said.

"Sure thing. Oh, and you kind of remind me of my sister, Annie."

I bit my lip.

xxx

Leo's POV

After getting back to the hideout, I realized that Leslie wasn't who she said she was.

"Oh my God," I said. "Oh my God!"

"What? Is everything okay?" Quincy asked. "Where's Leslie?"

"Leslie isn't Leslie, Leslie is ANNIE!"

Quincy's eyes widened. "What?! Dang it, I should have realized it earlier!"

Quincy ran out the door and I followed.

When we got to the bomb site, Leslie/Annie was gone.

"I thought she had it!" I yelled. "The bomb's still counting down!"

Quincy shook his head. "No…" He turned toward me. "You shouldn't have left her alone."


End file.
